[Spridgets] Renault Dauphine

[Rick Fisk]

I used to have a '68 VW Beetle with the same shifter setup - they called it 
"Auto Stick Shift".  3 speed manual transmission with a vacuum operated dry 
clutch connected to the engine through a torque converter.  Sheesh - all 
that to do away with the clutch pedal.

Rick

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Herbert Miller" <hgmiller3 at qwest.net>
To: "'Bob Gardner'" <rdgard at cox.net>; <spridgets at autox.team.net>
Sent: Friday, December 24, 2010 4:29 PM
Subject: Re: [Spridgets] Renault Dauphine


> Bob
> Sort of like the Porsche TipTronic. I drove a friend's 911 with a 
> TipTronic
> transmission. Worked pretty good, but sometimes I would forget and let my
> hand touch the gear shift in anticipation of making a shift. Of course it
> would declutch. You also could not keep holding the shift lever between
> shifts, you had to let go to engage the clutch. I guess it took some 
> getting
> used to.
>
> Herb Miller
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: spridgets-bounces at autox.team.net
> [mailto:spridgets-bounces at autox.team.net] On Behalf Of Bob Gardner
> Sent: Friday, December 24, 2010 2:21 PM
> To: spridgets at autox.team.net
> Subject: [Spridgets] Renault Dauphine
>
> My little brother had a Dauphine that had the strangest electro-magnetic
> clutch in it.  It had a standard 4 speed tranny but the gear shift lever 
> had
> a sort of hinge in it and when you went to change gears, as you pulled the
> gear shift lever, it moved on the hinge about 1/2 inch first and when it
> did, it pulled a switch and it shoot juice to the magnetic clutch through
> some large black box with cooling vents on it.  The magnet would pull in 
> the
> clutch and you could shift. To keep going, just let go of the shift lever
> and the magnet would let go and away you went with some slippage. There 
> was
> no clutch pedal. The black box would die and catch fire, real fire! Every
> now and then.  We went through about 4 or 5 boxes before we sold the car.
> Other than the fire breathing clutch, the car ran great for several years
> and gave good mileage and was sort of fun to bash around.
>
> Happy Xmas EVE all.
>
> Bob